So far we’ve Feature Matched last year’s Central American and Dragon Duel Champions, a National Champion, and a YCS Champion. With three Rounds of competition left in Day 1, how about some fresh faces?

We grabbed Irving Camiruaga Gil and Ivan Omar Hernandez Orta right off Table 1, currently the highest-ranked Duelists in the tournament. Gil is from Mexico City and is running Pendulum Magicians, while Orta is from San Luis Potosi piloting Burning Knights.

Both competitors are doing exceedingly well with undefeated records, but in just a few minutes only one of those records would still be intact. Let’s find out which one makes it.

Orta won the roll and decided to go first. He opened with Allure of Darkness, drawing two and banishing Libic, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss. He Set four cards to his backrow.

Gil had Pendulum Call; Xiangke Magician; Sky Iris; Tuning Magician; Nobledragon Magician; and Majespecter Unicorn – Kirin. He activated Sky Iris, played Kirin as a Pendulum Spell, and destroyed it with Sky Iris to search Odd-EyesPendulum Dragon. He activated Pendulum Call next, discarding Tuning Magician to search his deck for Dragonpit Magician and Wisdom-Eye Magician. He activated them both as Pendulum Spells, yarded Nobledragon Magician to destroy his opponent’s Twin Twisters with Dragonpit, and tried to Pendulum Summon Xiangke Magician. Orta shut him down with Solemn Strike.

Orta Set a monster. He seemed to be struggling to get himself in the game.

Gil drew Oafdragon Magician and destroyed his Wisdom-Eye Magician with its own effect, placing an Oafdragon Magician in its place. He used its ability to get his Wisdom-Eye Magician back to his hand, then discarded it to Dragonpit Magician to destroy his opponent’s Phantom Knights’ Fog Blade. He destroyed OafdragonMagician with Sky Iris to search another Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon, then activated it as a Pendulum Spell. He Pendulum Summoned Majespecter Unicorn –Kirin and Oafdragon Magician, and lost them both to Solemn Strike as well. He got Performapal Monkeyboard with Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon’s effect to end his turn.

Orta activated Foolish Burial to send Graff, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss to his Graveyard, then immediately shook his head at his mistake – he’d activated Graff’s Special Summon effect while he controlled a face-down monster, ensuring that whatever Malebranche he Summoned would destroy itself. Ouch. That was probably going to cost him this Duel.

He Special Summoned Barbar, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss, immediately landing it in the Graveyard. He Flip Summoned his Set Scarm, Malebranche of theBurning Abyss, and Normal Summoned another to overlay for Dante, Traveler ofthe Burning Abyss. He detached a Scarm to send Twin Twisters, Raigeki, and Farfa, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss to his Graveyard from the top of his Deck, then attacked with Dante and got Tour Guide from the Underworld with Scarm in the End Phase.

Gil drew another Majespecter Unicorn – Kirin, then used PerformapalMonkeyboard to search Performapal Skullcrobat Joker, Normal Summoning it to get another Dragonpit Magician from his Deck. He destroyed the Monkeyboard with Sky Iris, searched his third Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon, and activated Oafdragon Magician as a Pendulum Spell again. With no more backrow cards to fear, he Pendulum Summoned all three Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragons plus Kirin to bounce away Dante and Performapal Skullcrobat Joker for the win!

Ivan Omar Hernandez Orta is left to regret his misstep after costing himself that Special Summon, ruining his chances against Irving Camiruaga Gil’s methodical play. Meanwhile Gil scores a spectacular win with not one, not two, but three Odd-EyesPendulum Dragons! Orta would need to gather himself, put the mistake behind him, and play flawlessly to take the next two Duels; his undefeated record was clearly in danger.

Orta opted to play second. Gil had Nobledragon Magician; PerformapalSkullcrobat Joker; Performapal Monkeyboard; Maxx “C”; and MajespecterUnicorn – Kirin. He considered his options for a moment, then activated Performapal Monkeyboard as a Pendulum Spell and used its effect to search out Performapal Odd-Eyes Unicorn. He Normal Summoned Performapal SkullcrobatJoker to get Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon, then activated Odd-EyesUnicorn to Pendulum Summon Kirin and Pendulum Dragon! Gil was playing for a fast win, looking to disrupt Orta with Kirin and reuse his Performapal SkullcrobatJoker.

Orta blasted him with Raigeki, leaving the Unicorn on the field. He activated the Special Summon effect of Alich, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss and Gil responded with Maxx “C”, drawing Dragonpit Magician. Orta reeled and considered his next move before Special Summoning Scarm, Malebranche of theBurning Abyss to give Gil another free draw: Oafdragon Magician. An overlay for Dante, Traveler of the Burning Abyss gave him Pendulum Call next, and Gil bumped his Unicorn back to his hand to bounce away the Dante back to Orta’s Extra Deck.

Orta pressed on, Normal Summoning Tour Guide from the Underworld to Special Summon Cir, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss; Gil got Dragonpulse Magician, and two attacks to the face. Orta Xyz Summoned Super Quantal Mech BeastGrampulse, Gil got Kumongous, the Sticky String Kaiju off Maxx “C”, and Orta detached to destroy Performapal Odd-Eyes Light Phoenix. He Set one card to his backrow.

Gil drew Chaos Trap Hole to go to eight cards in hand, with PerformapalMonkeyboard still on the field. Orta had one card in hand, one card Set in his backrow, and Super Quantal Mech Beast Grampulse. It was just a matter of Gil figuring out the safest plan for a win – it was a matter of “how” at this point, not “if.”

He settled on Pendulum Call, pitching Nobledragon Magician to get Wisdom-EyeMagician and Oafdragon Magician from his Deck. He activated DragonpitMagician to complete his Pendulum Scale, then Pendulum Summoned Odd-EyesPendulum Dragon, Majespecter Unicorn – Kirin, and Oafdragon Magician. He reduced the Level of Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon to revive Nobledragon Magician, Tuned them together to Synchro Summon Odd-Eyes Meteorburst Dragon, and Orta responded with Phantom Knights’ Fog Blade to stop it, just trying to survive one more turn.

Gil Normal Summoned Dragonpulse Magician, Tributed away Grampulse to give Orta Kumongous, the Sticky String Kaiju, and bounced Dragonpulse and Kumongous back to his hand! A beautiful play by Gil, who made direct attacks with Oafdragon and Unicorn before Setting Chaos Trap Hole. Orta got Graff with his Scarm effect.

He drew to three cards in hand and laughed. He Set a monster, then Set a card to his backrow. In the End Phase Gil bounced the monster with Kirin, leaving Orta with one set card and that Fog Blade still on the table.

Gil drew Summoner’s Art and activated it to get another Dragonpit Magician. He Special Summoned Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon, Dragonpit Magician, and Kumongous, then overlaid the Magician and Odd-Eyes Meteorburst Dragon for Odd-Eyes Absolute Dragon, attacking for game by detaching and reviving his Meteorburst Dragon with Odd-Eyes Absolute!

Irving Camiruaga Gil gives an exceptional example of the power of Pendulum Magicians, controlling both games with Majespecter Unicorn – Kirin while his opponent struggles to keep up. Two more like that will put him into Day 2 undefeated, virtually a lock for the Top 32!